Darkness.
This was the backdrop of the cosmos.
Emptiness.
This was the universe's main theme.
The birth and death of any entity were mere embellishments on this vast, black canvas.
After the events of 700 years ago, the geothermal civilization had tightened its defenses, constantly anticipating an attack.
But the prolonged wait, the enemy's failure to materialize, had led to a relaxation of their defenses.
From space, only a few dozen patrol ships were visible around the planet. A few more, positioned further out, served as an early warning system.
This was a form of biological inertia.
Stemming from a fundamental principle of energy conservation.
Creatures tend to conserve energy; therefore, inertia is inevitable.
The planet was significantly brighter than it had been a thousand years earlier, with more structures rapidly appearing on the surface, no longer solely dependent on volcanic activity.
This was largely due to the Absolute Zero missiles.
The attacks had forced this civilization to wean itself off its reliance on geothermal energy, compelling a complete shift to nuclear power within a few centuries.
External threats often serve as the best catalyst for progress.
This adage proved true.
Humanity's rapid development stemmed from its inherent nature—constant warfare.
Human history was a history of war!
Just as the planet's inhabitants were enjoying a period of peace and complacency after centuries of relative calm, a beam of light appeared from afar, striking a massive crystal sphere on the surface.
The sphere, upon being struck, evenly dispersed the light, transforming into a giant luminous orb.
This sphere's light was visible for hundreds of kilometers.
Instantly.
Chaos erupted.
Countless warships launched.
Beams of light shot out from the planet's surface into the cosmos.
Using these light beams, the civilization pinpointed the enemy's location and distance within half an hour.
Tens of thousands of ground-based laser cannons began to reorient.
The planet lacked an atmosphere, so their weapons could be fired directly from the surface.
And because they were lasers, they didn't need to account for gravitational effects, allowing them to weaponize the entire planet.
They locked onto their target and began their attack within ten minutes.
Beams of light pierced the sky, each beam over 20 meters in diameter and 700 meters long, like colossal, glowing swords, blurring the line between science and magic.
...
In the void of space.
The fleet, a colossal force, spread out in a fan-like formation.
Cruisers and Destroyers led the advance.
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Laser weapons, being light itself, swept across space at near light speed—the fastest possible physical limit. The perfect optical weapon, like a gamma-ray burst, was only detectable after impact.
Therefore, Luna couldn't detect the enemy's lasers directly.
She could only sense the attack upon impact and then use her position to evade.
This was the inherent flaw in laser weaponry.
Fortunately, the distance between them was great enough.
The moment the first laser grazed past the Hope at a distance of 40,000 kilometers, Ayla captured the scattered photons.
"The enemy is attacking."
"And on a large scale."
Luna nodded. Within the brief span of that statement, hundreds of lasers had already passed them.
Simultaneously, two of their warships were hit.
"Deploy electromagnetic shields across the fleet."
Light, electricity, magnetism, and chemistry—many things fell under the umbrella of electromagnetism.
Laser weapons could be deflected using magnetic fields.
The destroyers were closing in.
Electromagnetic shields were deployed when each destroyer reached within 100 kilometers of its neighbor.
Electromagnetic fields have a mutual attraction. Ayla leveraged this property, connecting the destroyers' electromagnetic shields to create a protective barrier, like a chain-mail fence.
From the flagship's bridge, Luna watched as the destroyers closed the distance.
The electromagnetic shields didn't flash and sparkle as depicted in movies. Their activation was only visible on the instruments.
About ten seconds after the shields deployed, a laser struck one of them.
Normally, light wasn't affected by magnetic fields. However, Luna observed that the shield glowed, becoming a visible mesh of energy.
"What's happening?"
Ayla explained, "The electromagnetic shields don't deflect lasers using magnetic fields alone, but through the photoelectric effect and Delbrück scattering."
"The shields release numerous electrons and specialized atomic nuclei. The electrons, influenced by the magnetic field, are distributed evenly across the shield. While the magnetic field cannot directly deflect photons, the electrons can. The electric field generated by the nuclei also interferes with the photons' path."
A massive electromagnetic shield, hundreds of kilometers long, illuminated the space.
The fleet advanced under this protective barrier of light.
They were now only 3 AU away from the enemy planet. At the first fleet's speed, it would take only five days to reach it.
"Since the enemy is so welcoming, let's offer them a gift."
Luna gave the order, directing the Battleships and Cruisers to launch Absolute Zero missiles.
Unburdened by gravity or air resistance, the high-velocity missiles could achieve speeds exceeding the fleet's own velocity.
Three days later, the missiles reached the enemy planet's outer atmosphere.
Unlike previous deployments, these miniaturized Absolute Zero missiles detonated automatically when the ambient temperature reached -100 degrees Celsius or upon impact.
A barrage of lasers targeted the incoming missiles.
Silent explosions bloomed in the void of space.
Intense cold instantly spread through the outer atmosphere, engulfing a 260-kilometer radius around the impact sites.
Several alien warships were frozen, their propulsion systems failing as they plummeted towards the planet's surface.
But they were suddenly pulled back as they neared 10 kilometers above ground.
As Ayla had predicted, this civilization had developed countermeasures against Absolute Zero weapons.
However, these weapons served merely to buy the fleet sufficient time.
Within detection range, the fleet had arrived.
The distance between them was now less than 1.4 AU.
"This distance should be suitable," Luna asked from within the flagship.
Ayla nodded.
"Indeed."
"Then, charge and fire..."
The massive antimatter annihilation cannon, nearly half the length of the Hope (1152 meters), was mounted on the ship's front.
A large sphere at the rear of the cannon housed the antimatter generator.
This device used laser-induced collisions of gold atoms to generate high-temperature positrons and electrons, containing the positrons within a magnetic field.
During the charging process, the electromagnetic thrusters were deactivated, and all controllable fusion reactors powered the antimatter cannon.
After approximately ten hours of charging.
"Antimatter charge complete. 408 kg of antimatter charged."
"Fire!"
The 408 kg of antimatter, compressed into a beam by the massive barrel, shot out—formless and colorless.
It appeared as a cloud of gas.
Civilizations without antimatter technology wouldn't even be able to detect its presence.
Traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light, this antimatter reached the target planet's surface in 7.5 hours.
The alien civilization was caught completely off guard, as the antimatter annihilated upon contact with the planet's surface.
"BOOM!!!!"
The resulting explosion was equivalent to 17,5 billion tons of TNT—350 times more powerful than the Tsar Bomba, the largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated by humanity.
The explosion's core radius reached 100 kilometers.
Instantly.
One hemisphere of the planet was engulfed in light, and the heat could be felt over 2000 kilometers away.
Unhindered by atmospheric resistance, the resulting shockwave, composed of dust and rock, spread across the planet's surface at ten times the speed of sound, obliterating countless structures within an hour and a half.
Witnessing this spectacle,
The alien ships in orbit ceased their movements, silently observing the seemingly instantaneous destruction of their homeworld.